Now Is The Start
by Lyrander
Summary: Tony never thought he would find someone like her. Someone who brought balance to his life and complemented him perfectly. The only problem was, she was his brother's girlfriend. An AU fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, folks. I know we are all incredibly bummed out about Cote leaving and I won't start ranting here cause it can go on forever, buut this is a fic I started before that debacle began. I decided to publish it since it's my birthday and I'm actually just really excited about this. **

**This is an AU fic, obviously, where Tony has a brother, so our OTP meets through him. Tony is an NCIS agent and well, if things are vague about Ziva, then it's because they're meant to be :D All will be revealed eventually. **

**Anyway, I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it :) **

_**Disclaimer: **__**I don**'**t own NCIS or any of its associated characters or intellectual properties. But I do own Nick.  
**_

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Tony felt like someone was stabbing him with an icepick every time he moved. Who would've thought getting shot would hurt that much. Okay, that was probably a stupid question. But despite all his years in law enforcement, he hadn't managed to get shot yet. Kinda ironic to think that the shot that finally got him, was because of a housewife who didn't seem to know that pressing the trigger would make the bullet shoot out.

And now he had all this free time on his hands that he didn't know what to do with. He could lie on the couch and watch movies, of course, but he didn't think that would be the most productive use of his time.

He could go see Nick. Apparently, his brother had been dying for him to meet the new girl in his life. God, he wasn't really looking forward to that. Not to say Nick picked the worst girls, they were hot, he admits, but they were all just so incredibly…dull and empty, with no sense of sarcasm whatsoever. Tony preferred his women a bit more free, not so caged-bird types. Although, that was probably why he got into so much trouble with the opposite sex. Not all females were as accepting of Tony's desire to keep things light.

Nick was different from him. He was more the settling down type. The responsible one in the family. The brother who didn't disappoint. Nick had graduated with flying colors from the police academy and was now on his way to be one of the most promising rookies in Baltimore P.D. In contrast, Tony had been the one who fumbled through the academy and broke a lot of rules while doing so. Even as an officer, he had never been the one to specifically play by the rules. Despite what his father thought, it had sometimes saved more lives and that was the only thing Tony cared about. And by becoming an NCIS agent, he had pissed off his father even more. Senior had wanted him to become the next Chief which is probably why he was so angry at Tony for all his rebellious acts. Letting a known criminal go in order to save a teenage girl that was working for him, didn't look all that good on record. But Tony didn't give a damn about appearances. Maybe that is why he worked so well with Gibbs.

When his path crossed with NCIS, Gibbs saw the potential in him and took Tony under his wing. And he will never forget that. The man had been more of a father to him than his actual father ever was.

But Tony was proud of Nick. He took the remnants of their broken family and despite everything, had managed to make something of himself. Tony was the one who had taken care of his brother when their mother had died because their father was too broken. For quite some time, as a teenager, he had to be the responsible adult one for his little brother's sake. Perhaps that's why he has tried to take things a bit more loosely when he's an adult. Because he never got the chance when he should have. But never in a million years would he blame Nick of that. He was the victim in it all.

But not anymore. Nick had grown to be quite a dashing fellow he would say. Too bad he never took Tony as his wingman. They would have been legendary. And in the end, Tony would have gotten him a real woman.

That decided it. Tony would go visit Nick and tell him to stop associating himself with all the wrong women if he was serious about settling down. He would see his next pick and if she ended up being like the previous ones, he would talk him out of that relationship once and for all.

He got up and reached for his phone, dialing Nick's number.

"This is Nick DiNozzo." His brother answered formally.

"Nicky!" Tony grinned, remembering fondly that his brother was always the official type.

"Tony." Nick's voice softened and chuckled. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

"Tough luck, little brother." He chortled. "You will always be Nicky to me, no matter what you tell me. You know I never listen."

"For once in your life you are right, Tony. You've always marched to your own beat." His brother laughed quietly.

"Is there any other way?" he smirked and continued. "Besides what are you talking about? I'm almost always right. Remember the time I told you that neighbor kid had stolen your comic books not the raccoon? Or the time I told you that Chrissy chick you were so in love with was going to cheat on you? I love you lil bro, but I gotta say you don't have the greatest taste in women."

"Hey, it's not like you have the best track record with the opposite sex either. I remember you telling me about the time that crazy chick you had known for 2 weeks, threw your TV out of the window because you weren't willing to meet her parents. Or the time you managed to sleep with twins cause you didn't know they were two separate persons." Nick defensively commented.

Tony barked a laugh. "I most definitely wouldn't call that blunder, that was pretty epic even if I was thoroughly confused by their anger afterwards. But how was I supposed to know? They looked completely identical."

"That's because they were twins, Tony." Nick admonished.

"Well, in any case, I'm not trying to build a future with any of these girls I meet. It's a different story with you, Nicky." He countered.

"What's so wrong with trying to find a person I might spend the rest of my life with?"

"Nothing. It's just the ones you've tried it with so far have definitely not been good enough for you. Like Lisa, the animal-rights chick, for example. Remember how she got into that huge tirade about me being racist and an animal-hater when I told that joke about pandas being the least racist animals? I mean, I get that my humor isn't everybody's cup of tea, but come on."

Nick snorted. "Yeah I admit, I've dated a couple of…eccentric people, but Tony." He paused. "I think I've finally met her."

Tony was confused. "Met who?"

His brother huffed. "Her. You know…_her_."

Tony stifled a laugh. "Nicky. Buddy. You do know how many times you have said that, right?"

"Yes, Tony, I know I've been quite hasty with these things in the past, but I think this one's a keeper. Ziva is just so different from anyone I've ever met."

"Ziva? She's not American, I take it?" Tony quirked an eyebrow.

"She is. Well, she's from Israel, but she has an American citizenship." Nick amended.

"An Israeli? You caught an exotic one this time, didn't you, little brother?" Tony chuckled.

"She's perfect. She's absolutely wonderful. You'll see what I'm talking about when you finally take off time to visit me." He complained.

"Well that might be actually sooner than you think." Tony knew Nick wasn't going to take what he heard next well, but he had to say it. "I-I actually got some free time. Had a little work accident, no big deal, but they gave me some time off."

"What kind of accident?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"Oh you know, just an insignificant bullet wound." Tony closed his eyes, waiting for the blow-up.

"What?! Are you okay? Why didn't you say anything sooner? Why didn't you call me? I would've come visited you in the hospital and taken care of you!" his brother rambled. Tony waited for him to stop bombarding him with questions and took a deep breath when it seemed he had stopped.

"Nick. I'm fine. Really. I didn't call you because I didn't want you to worry. It was seriously just an accident with a witness I met. The gun went off and I just happened to stand in the bullet trajectory. It didn't hit any major organs or arteries and I just have a kick-ass scar on my side." Tony firmly assured him.

He heard his brother sigh on the other end of the line. "Nevertheless, Tony. You should have called me. I'm your brother. You can't just leave these details out."

Okay, Tony started feeling a bit guilty now. "I know. I'm sorry. The next time I get shot, you will be on my speed-dial, okay? You will be the one I'm gonna call when I'm bleeding out on the ground." Tony tried jokingly.

"That's morbid. Don't even say that." Nick reprimanded.

"Okay yeah, I'm sorry. Bad joke." Tony paused and continued. "But the good thing is that now I can come visit you and your precious Ziva."

"Really? Wow, great timing. It's Christmas soon, so it would be really nice to spend it together." Nick said.

Christmas. Tony hadn't even thought about that, but he figured it would be good to spend it together with family.

"Yeah, definitely. So, it's gonna take me a couple of days to get all of my stuff together, but I'll be there in no time."

"Awesome. I don't know if I'll be home the time you arrive, but just let yourself in." his brother uttered excitedly.

"Yep, will do. Can't wait to see your next perfect woman." Tony grinned.

His brother sounded amused. "I think even you will like this one. Just remember that she's off limits, okay?"

Tony snorted. "Nicky, I think that's the last thing we will have to worry about. We don't exactly have the same taste in women I've noticed."

"Yeah, that's true." Nick paused. "I prefer mine with some brains." He laughed.

Tony scoffed. "Heeey!"

His brother just kept laughing. "Okay, Tony. I gotta go now. I'll see you when you get here."

"Alright. Can't wait to tell you I told you so." He smirked.

"Ditto." Nick said and hung up.

The drive had taken forever. His ribs hurt from the trip and he couldn't wait to go lie down on his brother's couch. He had always loved the little house his mother had left them as an inheritance. It was meant for both Tony and Nick, but since Tony had moved to D.C. because of his new job, his brother was left to his own devices. The house was right on the outskirts of the city which meant it was away from all the bustle but not so far that it would be inconvenient to get to work every day. Neither of them had ever felt the need to sell it. It was the only thing they had left from their mother.

Their childhood home was another house. It was right smack in the middle of the city and it was still the place where Senior lived but it wasn't a home to either of them anymore. It somehow seemed so cold without the warm ray of sunshine that was their mother.

Now they called home the little cottage their mother had used as her studio. She had been a brilliant painter. As Tony walked in the front door, her entire presence seemed to wash over him. The walls were embellished with so many of her paintings and the warmth that emanated from the house made him feel like she was still with them. Whenever Tony was back in this house, a wave of nostalgia always came over him and he realized how much he had missed his little brother. Despite everything, he was all Tony had now.

He walked through the corridor into the living room to set his bags down. He suddenly heard a husky voice coming from upstairs.

"Nick, is that you? I thought you had to work until the night."

Tony walked towards where the voice was originating from, just stopping at the foot of the stairs and seeing a dark-haired beauty descend from the stairs.

"Well, you are not Nick." Her big brown eyes pierced through him inquisitively.

Tony seemed to have lost his voice, needing to cough a few times. "Uh, no. I-I'm Tony. Nick's brother. Nice to meet you." And reached out his hand to shake hers.

Her features seemed to soften and then take on a wicked expression. "Oh, he told me you were coming." And skipped down the stairs to shake his hand. "He forgot to tell me what a looker his older brother was." She stuck her tongue out playfully. Tony gulped and she chuckled slightly. "Nice to meet you too." And stormed off to the kitchen.

Holy crap. Nick was right. She was exquisite. At least where looks was concerned.

His brother had done well.

"Well what are you just standing there for, Mr. Hotshot Agent?" he heard her teasing voice from across the corridor.

This was going to be one hell of a Christmas.

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**Let me know what you think :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: Gary and I had a nice little chat, but alas, I still don't own NCIS. **_

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Tony walked to the kitchen to see her fumbling around, probably wanting to cook dinner.

"You're quite the firecracker, aren't you?" he wondered out loud.

Ziva chuckled. "I have been called worse." And walked past him to put the stove on.

"Do you need any help?" Tony asked. Even though he was exhausted from the trip, it was the polite thing to do. Besides, he was fascinated by Nick's new girlfriend. He had been right. She was different.

"No, I am good, thanks. You have had a long trip, so just go sit down somewhere" she replied and continued after a small pause. "Plus, I remember Nick saying you suck at cooking, so I would rather if you did not mess up my dinner."

"I would argue, but what's true is true. My talents lie elsewhere." he grinned.

Ziva turned around to eye him appraisingly for a minute, almost as if she was trying to unnerve him. "I bet they do." she smirked. "I've heard all about your little adventures in the big city."

At least they had one thing in common. They both tantalized the opposite sex to gain the upper hand. Well two could play at that game.

Tony walked past her to sit on a chair at the table. "So tell me, Ms. David. How did my little brother snag a girl like you?"

Ziva's eyes narrowed at him impishly. "A girl like me?"

"Well yeah. You are a free spirit. You seem-" he paused to think what she was like. Obviously, he didn't know much about her and even at first sight, she seemed quite mysterious. "You seem quite untamed and wild, I gotta say. Nicky doesn't seem like your type or vice versa." he continued.

"Are you saying you are my type, Tony?" she quirked her eyebrow mischievously.

This woman was impossible. "Oh I most definitely would be. You see, I'm quite a catch. But unfortunately, you're not my type." he said. That was an outright lie of course. Of all the women in the world, she seemed to be exactly what he would go for.

Ziva let out a laugh. "I am everybody's type, Tony. But unfortunately for _you_" she pointed at him with a spatula, "I am already taken. Nick is who I need." she smiled.

Tony nodded. "Well, Nicky does have some redeeming qualities I admit." he conceded.

"Nick has some talents of his own." she grinned and continued. "Must run in the family if what you say is true."

Ew. He didn't want to think about his younger brother's sexcapades. "Do you always do that?" he questioned.

She looked at him. "Do what?"

"Talk in innuendos." he explained.

Ziva laughed and went back to stirring the pasta. "More fun this way, don't you think?"

Tony smiled brightly. This was definitely fun. The corners of his mouth were aching from smiling and laughing so much.

He liked this one. Tony thought his brother was way in over his head with Ziva, but nevertheless, he believed his brother might have chosen the right woman this time. She was funny and carefree. Not like those insanely uptight and humorless ones he had presented Tony in the past. Perhaps he was projecting his own desires in a woman onto Nick, but in any case, his brother needed someone who was slightly different from him. Otherwise, he would end up in a loveless, passionless marriage. But Ziva most definitely was passionate.

He watched her meander around the kitchen, flawlessly knowing where every ingredient and utensil was located which made him wonder how long they had been together.

"So how long have you guys been dating?" he asked.

Ziva didn't stop moving around and came to the table to cut some vegetables. "A little over 3 months, I think."

"Really? Well you seem to know your way around this place quite well." he mused.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so. I have been spending most of my time here." she shrugged. "I miss Nick and this house makes me feel at home."

"You don't like it at your own apartment?" he inquired.

She went back to the stove. "No, I do. I just-I just feel a bit lonely there. This place has a warmth and glow to it that I can't describe. Everything just seems brighter here. Better, if you will." she sighed dreamily. "Sorry, I must sound so strange describing your house to you like that. Nick always makes fun of me for thinking this house has a soul" she laughed shakily.

"Oh you're most definitely strange, Ms. David." Tony chuckled. "But I couldn't agree more with you about this house. I've always thought like this place was alive somehow. It's like the second you step foot into this house, some kind of energy comes rushing towards you." he described.

Ziva came back to the table, watching him with her careful big brown eyes for a minute before putting back on the teasing look. "Look at us two nutters. Nick would have a field day with us, so you better not say anything about this to him. I will skin you alive" she waved a knife at him.

"You're threatening a federal agent here." Tony grinned.

"No one would know that once I am done with you." she smirked and went back to making dinner.

Tony swallowed tightly. For some reason, he believed her. She seemed to have an edge to her, he wouldn't want to cross. She appeared so strong and compelling. But Tony couldn't help but notice that there was a sadness in her eyes, she didn't want anyone to see. He wondered if this flirty teasing act she was putting on, was simply for the benefit of not breaking down in front of strangers. He hoped Nick was the one who offered her support with whatever was troubling her. Tony would hate for someone to suffer alone like he had in the past.

He had no idea why this protecive streak had come over him, but maybe that was just the overly observant cop talking in him.

He quickly shrugged it off and asked. "So what are you making for dinner?"

She was still fussing around the kitchen like someone was poking her with a fiery stick. "Huh? Oh, I am making chicken with lemon-leek linguine."

"The what now? Aren't you all fancy?" he asked rhetorically.

"Not at all. I am a simple girl." she gleamed.

"Simple is the last thing I would call you." he snorted.

Ziva's face seem to fall for a moment before asking. "What would you call me then, Tony? I mean, we hardly know each other."

Tony didn't quite know what he had done to upset her, so he tried jokingly. "You, my brother's dear girlfriend, are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

Ziva scowled and eventually let out a laugh. "Winston Churchill. Now who's being fancy?"

Tony looked confused for a moment before realizing. "Oh. I actually referenced Oliver Stone's movie _JFK_."

"I don't watch a lot of movies. I don't even own a TV at the moment. My old one broke."

Tony's eyes almost popped out and he scoffed. "You don't own a TV?! Well, what's your furniture pointed at then?"

"Um. The centre? I am more of a book person." Ziva shrugged.

Now everything made sense. "Ah, I see. Now I understand how in at least one category, Nick and you fit."

Ziva looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I thought it was a bit hinky that my brother was dating someone so different from all his previous tamed picks, but now that I know you're a bookworm, it all makes sense."

Ziva just looked at him amusingly. "Oh, Tony. I might be a bookworm, but I am certain that is not what your brother was attracted to at first. You two are not the only ones with certain talents." she wiggled her eyebrows.

And they were back to that. Tony gaped at her and was about to retort when he heard the front door open. "Ziva? I'm home."

Ziva's face lit up. "Nick, we are in the kitchen."

"We?" he heard his brother's questioning voice nearing.

Tony got up to go greet his brother. "Nicky! Great to see you again, buddy." he hugged him tightly and patted him on the back. "Looks like you have lost all your baby fat." Tony grinned.

"Yeah and it looks like you gained it." Nick countered.

Tony feigned horror. "I think you've hit your head, little brother. I look sensational." he looked to Ziva. "Your lovely girlfriend can attest to that."

Ziva went to kiss Nick on the cheek and put an arm around his waist. "Sorry, Tony. I hate to break it to you, but I find Nick the more handsome one." she smirked.

Tony scoffed. "That's because you have love-goggles on."

Ziva went to pat him compassionately on the shoulder. "Oh, do not be a sore loser. I am certain you will find someone who thinks you are handsome, one day." she chuckled.

"Hey, I remember you saying something along the lines of that just earlier this day." he quirked his eyebrows at her.

"I was just being polite to my boyfriend's brother. Did not want to sound rude."

"Well you sure have no trouble being rude now." Tony retorted.

Ziva barked a laugh. "That is because I already know you like me. No need to keep up the act." she winked at him.

"Told you so, Tony." Nick piped in.

"I haven't said I like her. In fact, I find her quite irritating." Tony defended, not willing to admit it.

Nick came beside him to pat him on the shoulder. "Well we all know there's a fine line between love and hate." he said teasingly.

"Right now, I am borderlining on hate."

Nick and Ziva both snorted. "Oh come on, brother. Admit it. You like this one." Nick urged him.

"Macho Law prohibits me from admitting I'm wrong." he tried to keep his face serious, but was failing at it.

"You are hardly macho, Tony." Ziva laughed and continued. "I bet under that tough, scruffy federal agent act is a soft and fluffy inside."

"I will have you know, Ms. David, that nothing is soft and fluffy about me." Tony defensively said and continued. "But, I also know when to admit my mistake."

He turned to Nick and grabbed him by the shoulders. "You actually did good this time, baby bro. I'm pretty sure you're going to have your hands full with this crazy-ass knife nut, but she is a huge improvement from your previous weirdos. I'm proud of you." he said and mussed Nick's hair.

His brother laughed. "Gee thanks, Tony. I thought no one would live up to your ridiculous expectations."

"I only want the best for you, Nicky." he smiled.

"Aw, Tony, are you saying I am the best?" Ziva grinned. "I think this will be one of the rare times I agree with you a 100%."

"No, I'm merely pointing out the fact that you are simply a progression in the crappy line of women my brother has a habit of dating."

Ziva turned to look at Nick. "Wow, your brother is such a charmer. Are you sure he is telling the truth about his conquests back in the big city?" she pointed out sarcastically.

Nick roared a laugh. "Hmm, interesting point, babe. Who knows, maybe all his stories are just a way to cover up his wounded ego?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at them. "Okay you two. Questioning my quite remarkable tales is going too far. Ganging up on one? Not fair."

"I thought you were supposed to be this big bad agent. Cannot handle a little teasing?" Ziva's corners of the mouth quirking upwards.

"Oh, I can handle it. My stamina is extraordinary." His eyes twinkling with mischief.

Ziva raised her eyebrows at him in amusement while Nick chuckled lightly. "Okay, okay, Tony. We yield. No one will question your skills in getting a woman ever again."

"Speak for yourself, Nick. I am not promising that. I am yet to be impressed." Ziva laughed and went to put plates on the table.

"Prepare to be blown away, Ms. David. We will go out to a bar one night and I'll prove you wrong." Tony challenged. "I am certain the ladies will be pleased."

Nick was pouring the wine and yelled from the living room. "As long as you're not practicing it on my girlfriend."

Ziva giggled. "Ooh, a girlfriend-stealer for a brother. Fascinating."

Tony walked to sit at the table. "Okay, let's get one thing straight. I go for available women only. Females are enough of a hassle without having to deal with the jealous boyfriends as well."

Ziva was the last to come to the table with the food. "Be that as it may, Tony, contrary to what you think, you are not my type, so trying to prove me wrong while taking me as the target would backfire." She grinned.

"You would be eating your words, Ziva, if my dear brother hadn't had enough sense to grab you to yourself." Tony countered.

"Careful, Tony. This sounds an awful lot like a compliment." Nick said amusedly.

"Well, I am trying to be charming now."

"Try harder." Ziva laughed and started cutting the chicken.

Nick started cackling and Tony snorted. He hadn't thought this would be the situation he would be in. Having to try to impress his brother's girlfriend? He thought it would be the other way around. But he had a feeling spending time with Ziva was bound to bring out a few other surprises.

It was true that he didn't go after others' girlfriends. Especially after his brother's. He never even felt the desire to. But this might have been the first time, he felt a small prick of envy towards his brother for being able to get someone so wonderfully enigmatic as Ziva.

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**Whoa guys, thanks so much for all the reviews and follows! I'm so glad you enjoyed the first chapter, and I hope you like this one as well :)**

**Anyway, let me know what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: As Phoebe would say: not **_**not _mine, not _not _mine._**

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The three of them had had dinner every night for the past couple of days or so and he had to admit, Ziva was quite the cook. Tony remembered the last time he had had home-cooked dinner was when their mother was still alive. He had gotten so used to take-out food, he didn't even realize how much he had missed the delicious aroma that filled the room when someone was cooking.

Tony had taken quite a liking to Ziva. She was like one of the guys, only far more attractive and alluring. He thought this Christmas would turn out to be such a drag, but thanks to his brother's impeccable taste for once in his life, Tony was having the time of his life.

He had a family at NCIS, with Gibbs, Abby and McGee, but with a short period of time, he had managed to get their little make-shift family feeling going with Nick and Ziva. He had even been able to drag Ziva into watching a couple of movies with them during the evening. Even though, Tony was the ultimate movie buff in the family, his brother had also inherited the magnetism towards motion pictures, albeit it was often derailed by books. They had both taken it upon themselves to educate Ziva in the movie classics, even if she did fall asleep by the end of most of them. It was the effort that counted.

Getting shot sucked, but Tony was happy to get the time to catch up with his brother. He had taken care of him for half his life, so he had felt a bit left out now that they were both living their own lives.

"So how's the life of a rookie treating you?" he asked his brother one evening when they were having dinner.

"I'm doing quite well, if I do say so myself. Haven't messed up too bad so far." Nick shrugged.

"Don't be modest." Tony shook his head. "I've been hearing all about the most promising rookie in years. Quite a feat it was when you helped to bust all those drug dealers."

"I didn't do much there. I just managed to get the sister of one of the dealers to talk." He meekly muttered.

"Ah, trust you to be the ever humble one, Nicky." Tony chuckled.

"So, I am guessing you are the cocky one in the family, yes?" Ziva quirked an eyebrow.

"Rightfully so, my dear, Ziva." Tony stuck out his tongue at her before turning back to look at Nick sternly. "But seriously, Nick. You did well. No one else got her to talk, so you should be proud. Not everyone is able to connect with witnesses."

Nick looked at him with curious eyes. "You can."

Tony let out a sigh. "Perhaps, but I also usually manage to piss off a lot of people in the process. A characteristic, you, luckily, don't share with me." Tony paused for a moment and muttering, "Luckily for Senior."

"Oh come one, Tony. Dad is not that bad. You know he's proud of you. He always has been." Nick defended.

Tony snorted. "Well he has a lovely way of showing it." He glanced at Ziva for a second. "Could we not talk about this right now?"

"No-no. Family drama, I love it. Out with it, boys." Ziva laughed heartily.

Tony scowled at her. She had no idea what she was getting into. "You're quite nosy, aren't you?"

"No, I am simply pointing out the fact that you two need to have a heart-to-heart talk and I am merely offering myself as a referee, if a need for one arises." She said, quirking up one corner of her mouth.

"Heart-to-heart? Didn't peg you for the touchy-feely type."

Ziva took a sip of wine. "I am not. But I am not the one under question right now." She maintained.

Tony huffed and got up to open a bottle of whiskey. If they were insisting on talking about Senior, he needed something stronger to drink.

"Look, Tony, all I'm saying is that maybe you should cut him some slack. He only wants the best for us." Nick claimed.

"The best for us? Oh is that what we're calling it these days? You mean when he lectured me and wrote me up for staying at the scene to save a girl's life instead of running after the criminal? Or when he put me on suspension for a week after I followed my gut and went after a lead which ended up putting a dangerous arms-dealer behind bars? But God forbid, I disobey his orders." He raised his voice involuntarily.

"No one contends your capabilities as a skilled cop, Tony. He just wanted you to follow orders." Nick said, eerily calm.

"Well he has you for that now, doesn't he?" Tony couldn't help, but snigger. He didn't mean to take it out on his brother, but sometimes Nick was so utterly naïve when it came to their father. He didn't know all the things he had done.

Tony saw Nick clenching his fists, sensing that he was struggling not to snap back. His brother had always been the diplomatic one. Ziva, on the other hand, didn't seem to feel the least bit awkward in the middle of this family angst, happily munching away on her burger. It kind of appeared as she was…comforted by it.

Tony took a deep breath. "Nick, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pick a fight with you. I just simply meant that it must be nice for Dad to finally have a son who didn't disappoint."

Nick gave him a shaky smile. "Don't sell yourself short, big brother. You were quite the rock-star in the precinct. It's hard to live up to it. Besides, contrary to what you may think, Dad is proud of you. He can't stop talking about his eldest who's working as a federal agent at NCIS."

Tony had a hard time believing that, but he didn't want to get into another argument with him.

"He is right, you know." Ziva suddenly spoke up. "Chief is constantly telling us the tales of all of your achievements." She paused to take a bite and added. "Senior, as you two call it, is quite a dashing older man, I would say. Must be the DiNozzo charm, you seem to be lacking." Ziva grinned.

Tony was about to retort when it suddenly hit him what Ziva just said. "Chief? Us?" Tony racked his brain, trying to remember if either of them had said anything about Ziva's profession, but all he could recall was that she also worked in law enforcement. "Hang on." He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I didn't ask this sooner, but how did you two meet?"

Ziva answered before Nick could stop her. "We work at the same precinct."

Tony froze and looked at his brother accusingly. "So she's your training officer?"

"You did not know? I thought you told him, Nick." Ziva moaned, throwing her tiny piece of burger back on the plate.

"No, yeah, he left that little detail out." Tony said, letting sarcasm seep through his every word. "What were you thinking? You know a relationship between a TO and a rookie is against the rules. I thought you, rebelling against that was the one thing I didn't have to worry about in your case." Tony huffed in anger.

"That's a bit hypocritical of you, don't you think, Tony? You were never a follower of the regulations yourself." His younger brother countered bitterly.

"No, I wasn't, but I also didn't drag anyone else down with me." Tony let fingers ran through his hair.

Ziva interrupted his rambling and quietly added. "Look, Tony, I am truly sorry for-"

But Tony didn't let her finish and just continued his tirade directed at Nick. "I mean, did you even think what this would do to Ziva if anyone found out?" he waved his hand at Ziva, seeing her looking at him with curious eyes. "You would be absolutely fine, Nick, considering you're the rookie in this situation and the fact that the Chief of Police is your father, but Ziva would have a blemish on her record forever." He stopped his lecture, sensing that his brother had finally started to grasp the seriousness of this situation. He glanced at Ziva, who was still looking at him with that inquisitive look in her eyes. She even seemed surprised, her face having a certain softness to it. She appeared to be moved by something he didn't quite understand. He was mesmerized by her eyes, but he had to tear them away when Nick spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Tony, but we just couldn't stay away from each other. I realize now that it was stupid of us, but I'm gonna get cut loose in a couple of weeks, so there won't be any rules to break anymore." He quietly said.

Tony sighed and plopped heavily back down on the chair. "Fine. Just…be careful okay? Now that you know what you're up against, you need to lay back with the coupley stuff at work."

Both Nick and Ziva nodded absentmindedly when Tony chuckled lightly. "Who would have thought? The overbearing control-freak, Nick DiNozzo, breaking the rules because of a girl? You know, if it weren't for the gravity of the consequences, I would say I'm swollen with pride, baby bro." He grinned at them.

The mood lightened instantly. "I have to say, Tony, you are proud of the oddest things." Ziva wondered.

Tony shrugged his shoulders and went to sit on the couch. "What can I say? When your brother has an anal retentive personality, you take what you can get." Ziva came to sit in the opposite corner of the sofa, pulling her knees up to her chin. Nick was still at the table, yelling across the room, "Are we not going to do the dishes?"

Tony laughed and muttered to Ziva quietly. "See what I mean?" Ziva started giggling and shouted to his boyfriend teasingly. "They are all yours, babe."

Tony saw Nick frowning. "Why me?"

"Because I cooked dinner and Tony washed the dishes last time, so it is your turn now." She winked at Tony.

Nick started gathering the dishes without any protest.

Tony raised his hand to high five Ziva. "Nice job, Zi." Ziva leaned forward to respond, but all of a sudden, froze in mid air. "Zi?" she questioned and tilted her head.

He didn't even realize he had called Ziva that, but it suited her. "Yeah" he dropped his hand and smiled. "Figured since we're family, you need to have an official nickname." He paused. "Is that okay?"

Tony had a suspicious feeling her eyes glassed over for a moment before blinking and smiling brightly. "Yeah, that is perfect." She seemed to want to ask something, but was hesitant about it. "Why did you yell at your brother?"

"You need to be more specific, Zi. I've yelled at him countless of times." He let out a laugh.

Ziva coughed nervously and explained. "Before. When you found out about how we met. Why did you yell at him and not at me?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Oh." He was surprised. He hadn't noticed not channeling his anger towards her. He didn't think she deserved it. Of course, they were both to blame, but if Nick loved her that much, he should have thought about how it would affect her if someone were to ever find out. His brother had much less to lose and Tony realized, he didn't want to lose the connection he had to this woman who was quickly becoming his good friend. "Um. I just-" As much as he wanted to tell her the truth, he didn't think they were ready to have such an honest conversation. So, he resorted to what he always did. "I just figured it wouldn't have been the best idea to ruin my nice-guy routine when you are still so unconvinced of my charm."

Ziva just stared at him for a minute before quirking up the corner of her mouth in glee. "Well, I would hardly call what you've been doing a 'nice-guy routine' so far."

Tony wanted to reply, but he suddenly found himself captivated by her face. She had such big beautiful chocolate eyes and her smile simply lit up the whole room, making him feel all warm inside. He suddenly had an urge to push that stray hair that had fallen on her olive-skinned face behind her ear, but as fast as that thought had come, it had been repressed with the same speed.

"Come on, I'm growing on you, aren't I?" he poked her playfully.

"As much as a fungus can grow on trees." She smirked and leaned back into the cushion.

"Admit it. You're starting to see my charm."

Ziva seemed to be mulling the thought over before responding thoughtfully. "I suppose I can see why your brother seems to be so fond of you, yes."

"I'll take it." Tony chuckled, but added, "However, mark my words, Ms. David. Soon, you'll wonder how you ever lived without me." He quirked an eyebrow at her wistfully and reached for the remote.

Ziva let out a loud cheerful laugh. "It is heartwarming to see that there are still people as confident as you left in the world. But how about vice versa, Tony?" she winked at him and jumped over to grab the remote, so she could put on the program of her choosing.

Tony didn't know about her, but he could definitely start to see how it would be difficult to say goodbye to her. No wonder his brother was so enamored with this Israeli.

* * *

**Wow. Seriously, guys. Thank you SO SOOO much for all your support. It means the world to me and it's currently the motivating force behind this cause of the dreadful state shippers are in at the moment. You guys rock!**

**Aanyway, I hope you liked this one as well aand let me know what you think :)**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: We all know that if any of us owned NCIS, the whole Cote/Ziva situation would have been solved already. So nope, not mine.**_

* * *

Even though Christmas was approaching, Nick still had to work on the account of him being a rookie. He was stuck with all of the extraneous paperwork that the TOs didn't want to do, including his girlfriend. Hence, Tony was stuck at home alone during the day, nursing his slowly healing wounds.

He was going through the living room's DVD shelf, noticing that his brother's collection really needed some updating. It was a crime that he was still missing so many great movies. Especially now that he was with Ziva, it was essential that Nick paid attention to what kind of movies they watched. The woman needed to become acquainted with cinematic masterpieces.

He was about to start watching _Psycho _when he heard the front door open and close. He looked over his shoulder to see Ziva coming around the couch to sit next to him.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Tony wondered.

"I was, but I traded shifts with a friend who needed some extra time-off next week, so my day ended earlier." she muttered with closed eyes.

She didn't say anything else for quite some time and Tony noticed she seemed somehow tired and, for the lack of a better word, broken.

"Are you okay?" he quietly asked.

She twitched as if she had forgotten Tony was right next to her. "Hm? Yes-yes. It was just a long day despite getting home so early."

"Home? But I thought you had your own apartment." he asked a bit insensitively before he could censor his words.

Her eyes popped open almost comically, tilting her head towards him, frowning. "I do. But I don't consider that my home anymore." she said before putting her head back down on the cushion. "Do _you_ consider your place in D.C. your home or this one?"

She had a point. He loved his humble apartment, it was his safe haven, but this bright little house gave him a feeling he couldn't describe. He knew this technically wasn't their childhood home, but Nick and him with their mother had spent most of their time here, when Senior was at work, watching their mother paint and then going to the cinema together. And when he turned 18, he moved here permanently, taking Nick with him, cause their father was still too crippled by grief and guilt to take care of them properly.

He became aware he hadn't answered Ziva, what with him going down memory lane. "This one." he said thoughtfully.

Ziva just nodded absentmindedly as if telling him, _I told you so_.

Tony suddenly realized that he didn't actually know anything about her. This might be her home now, but what was it like in Israel? Did she have any family here with her as well? Nick hadn't told him anything more about her either.

"So, you're from Israel, right? What made you come to the States?"

He saw Ziva tense for a second before relaxing. "Just thought it was time for a change." she shrugged.

"Change from what?" he was curious.

"Mossad." she said automatically, scrunching up her nose as if she hadn't planned on divulging that little fact.

"Whoa, Mossad? So you _are _a ninja." he chuckled lightly.

The corners of her mouth quirked up in amusement. "Among other things."

Hang on. Ziva _David_. His head whipped to look at her in shock. "Wait a minute. Your last name is David. As in like, Eli David?" he said disbelievingly.

And with that question, she became as rigid as a stone statue. "Yes." she gritted through her teeth. "He is my father." Still refusing to look at him.

"Well I can see you're real happy about that association with him." he tried jokingly.

Finally, she turned his head to look at him. "Tony, I do not mean to be rude, but I really do not want to be talking about my father."

Tony just stared at her for a moment because for some reason, he was really curious about Ziva's previous life, but he could see this was not the right time. Maybe Nick would tell him more.

He wiped the contemplative look off his face and started grinning. "You? Rude? Never." It seemed like he achieved his goal in lightening the mood because the glassy look in her eyes was replaced by a small twinkle and she let out a chuckle. "Besides, what with your Daddy-dearest issues, you'll fit right in with our dysfunctional little family, Zi."

She smiled softly at him and exhaled deeply. "Do you really consider me to be in your family?"

Tony looked at her funnily for a second, because of course she was family. She was Nick's dearly loved girlfriend, Tony liked her and from what he had heard, even Senior liked her even if he didn't know those two were dating. But he had a feeling, that belonging to a family was not something that she had felt for a long time.

Tony decided to fight the urge to give her a gushing monologue about how well she did, in fact, belong here and went with the previously established teasing routine.

"Well yeah. I mean, I highly doubt Nicky is capable enough to get someone better than you for himself and I'd really hate for him to regress to his old bad habits, so I would say that you're the best we can hope for him to bring into this family." he grinned brightly.

Ziva started laughing. "You know, if I didn't know you any better, I would say that this actually sounded like a compliment."

"There's loads you don't know about me, Zi." he winked at her and added "Besides, I'm sure that Nicky has flooded you with all kinds of compliments ever since he met you. He's always been overly eager. So, in actuality I'm just looking out for you. Don't want you to get a big head."

Ziva smirked. "You mean bigger than yours?" Tony snorted. "I think I am a long way from that so you do not have to worry about that." she patted him, laughing, while grabbing the remote again. He had noticed, that for a person who wasn't into television, she had a habit of hogging the remote.

He had to remedy that sooner or later.

* * *

He and Ziva had spent the rest of the day mindlessly watching TV like a couple of regular old couch potatoes. They had watched reality shows starting from _Project Runway _to _Survivor _ending with _MasterChef _and an episode of _Jersey Shore_.

"You know, I think you'd be really good on _Survivor _and _MasterChef_, Zi." Tony said thoughtfully.

"That leaves you with _Project Runway _and _Jersey Shore_." Ziva snorted.

Tony scoffed and ignored her ridiculous comment. "Heck no. I would come on Survivor with you and we would battle it out. Who outwits, outplays and outlasts the other?"

She let out a derisive laugh. "Tony, I would beat you in all of the 3 categories, no questions asked."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh really? I wouldn't be so sure about that. I'm quite the competitor."

"I am sure you are, but unfortunately for you, I am smarter and craftier than you. Not to mention the fact that I was trained by Mossad's best, so there would not be any contest between you and I." she swayed her head wistfully.

Normally, he would feel offended, but he had to concede that it was hard to compete with a Mossad ninja. Not that he would ever admit it to her.

"Never underestimate the underdog. I'm a wild card you don't see coming." he raised his eyebrow at her.

"If you say so." she said offhandedly. "But you know, you are all talk, but no action. You say that you can beat me, but have no way to prove it. And you say that you have a way with the ladies, but you have yet to put your money where your mouth is." She looked at him smugly.

Tony huffed, feeling offended. He yanked the remote from her in annoyance, shutting the TV off. "Well the night is still young, Ms. David. I'd be more than happy to prove you wrong, so what do you have in mind?" he raised his eyebrows at her in anticipation.

She leaned into the couch, mulling that challenge over in her head. She looked at him contemplatively and answered. "Well, I would prefer to wait for Nick for this also, because I am sure he would like to see his brother eat his words," she said amusedly, Tony glaring at her. "But since he has a night shift and we have been sitting by the TV for longer than is considered healthy, I think it would be a good idea to go out and test your oh-so-legendary skills." She laughed and added, "On one condition, though. I'll be your wingwoman."

Tony scowled at her for a moment before saying. "Thanks, Zi, but I'm more of a solo-act." The couple of times he had tried to pick up women with wingmen, the guys had majorly botched it up and he had ended up with a shaky reputation. So, Tony had learnt his lesson and did things his way.

"Oh come on, Tony." She whined. "I am a terrific wingwoman. You would get more phone numbers than ever before."

"Why are you so interested in this?" he wondered inquisitively.

"I am just trying to help you out, Tony." She grinned. Tony looked at her with an apprehensive expression that was willing her to say the truth. Ziva huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Look, I have been bored out of my mind. You know I love Nick, but now that his rookie period is starting to end, he has been working even harder, so I have been cooped up here completely alone because I have not wanted to go out without him." She paused and said carefully, "But now that you are here, I think it would be fun to go and prey on simple-minded gullible blondes." And looked at him with such big brown puppy eyes.

Tony let out a laugh at her choice of words. Quite the feminist his brother had picked.

"So, basically what you're asking of me is a favor?" he smirked at her.

Ziva narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "No. I would not call it that exactly. Firstly, because you still need establish your status in the eyes of Nick and I. And secondly, because you would benefit from this greatly. So I am actually doing a favor for _you_ by lending my skills." She said haughtily.

Tony started chuckling. He had to give it to her, she was quite adept at twisting his words for her benefit.

He had a feeling, he will always have a hard time saying no to her. "You know what? Fine." Ziva's eyes lit up. "But I don't want to hear any more mocking on your part about my skills with women, okay?" He waved his finger at her firmly.

"Only if you can deliver." She grinned.

"I will just blame you if something goes wrong." He countered cheekily.

"Fat chance of that happening." She laughed and got up to go get dressed.

Tony just stared after her, shaking his head in disbelief. This will prove to be an interesting night out.

* * *

**Okay, so, many of you are concerned about Nick which is lovely cause I didn't you guys would love him that much and I'm here to tell you: While this IS a Tiva story, I will try to be as gentle as I possibly can with Nick as far as those two are concerned. So, you can relax a bit :) **

**Thaanks again for all your support! It's the motivating force behind this :)  
**

**Anyway, um, yeah I hoped you liked this one and as always, let me know what you think :)**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: By the 5th chapter, I still have not managed to obtain ownership of NCIS.**_

* * *

They went to some bar Ziva and Nick were used to going to, in order to avoid bumping into people from work. From what Ziva had told him, they were actually being quite careful. He had a feeling Ziva didn't like advertising her romantic relationships anyway, so she had even less desire to do that at a work place which was good for the both of them.

Tony wondered if he would ever be willing to go through so much trouble to maintain a relationship. Hiding it from everybody and having to sneak around all the time? Gibbs would of course slap him to the moon and back if he ever found out someone in his team was dating a co-worker, but luckily Tony didn't have to worry about that happening. There was no one in the team he had even considered as a potential romantic interest. Abby was like a sister to him and well, that left McGee. No offense to Probie, but he wasn't really Tony's type what with the incessant computer talk and obsessive gaming tendencies.

But it seemed like Ziva and Nick were really happy despite risking everything by being together. He still found Ziva to be incredibly puzzling and there was something about her, he quite couldn't put his finger on. He wondered if Nick noticed it too. He should have a talk about her with him if he was so serious about this relationship. He liked Ziva more than he cared to admit, but he didn't want his brother to end up completely heartbroken. And he had a feeling that every man who was dumped by Ziva was bound to be utterly inconsolable.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, he had to focus on the task at hand.

"So where would you like to sit, wingwoman?" he asked cheerfully. "The bar, the corner, the middle?"

"It is like it is your first time." She shook her head disappointingly and got a couple of beers for them. "Everyone knows you have to have to first scout out the potential candidates and _then _approach them. Picking up women is an art, Tony. You cannot just throw a can of paint on the canvas and hope it passes for a painting." And dragged him onto a chair in the corner.

Tony just stared at her in awe for a moment. "Exactly how many women have you picked up, Zi?"

She looked at him mischievously while Tony took a sip from his bottle. "More than you think." Tony almost spit out his drink, but she just continued casually. "Besides, before I found Nick, I was hit on more times than you can count, so I am well-versed in the tactics that work and the ones that do not."

Tony looked at her with a grin plastered on his face. "So you were quite the maneater yourself, weren't you?"

"Nothing wrong with that." She smirked.

"I'm not saying there is." He said amusedly and took another sip. He looked at her and asked her a question he had been wanting to ask for a very long time. "So, what made you stop?"

She seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, what made you stick with Nick? Don't take this the wrong way, but I meant what I said when I first met you. Nicky doesn't seem like your type. He's too good." He explained, hoping he didn't hurt her feelings by saying that.

Luckily for him, her expression softened and she smiled. "That is exactly why he caught my eye. He is _good_." She emphasized. "I have met so many men who were intimated by me, therefore, trying to act all superior, so they would not lose their sense of masculinity. But Nick does not play that game. He does not try to compete with me. He takes me as I am." She shrugged. "Plus, he has a brighter outlook on life than I do, so it is refreshing."

Tony could understand her explanation. Nick generally never judged people and everybody liked him. He was like this big cute puppy dog that everybody couldn't help but pet. It was a whole other story with Tony. People liked him well enough, but years of experience had taught him to be suspicious of people. Something that his little brother had yet to learn.

"Yeah, I can see how his happy-go-lucky attitude can be addictive." Tony chuckled. "But I can't imagine men find you intimidating." He said sarcastically which Ziva seemed to have missed for once.

She leaned towards him, tilting her head and asking him challengingly. "Are you saying I do not intimidate you?"

Tony was about to point out he was being sarcastic and tell her, she most definitely was daunting, until he realized something. "No." he said calmly. Ziva's eyes widened and he could tell she was taken aback by his response. "No?" she eyed him suspiciously. Tony shook his head once and answered, "No." He paused for a second and continued. "I was, at first, and you still sometimes manage to surprise me with your straightforwardness, but 'intimidating' is not what I would call you anymore. I'd say if people got to know you better, they would realize that it's just something you do to gain the upper hand in case you needed the advantage with the person in question." He shrugged.

Ziva seemed even more shocked than she had before. Tony didn't quite realize what it was that was so mind-blowing about what he had said, until he caught on. She probably wasn't used to people being able to read her so easily. He seriously hoped Nick had tried to crack her shell a bit, but he also knew that his brother wasn't the poking type.

Ziva was still as mysterious as what had happened to Amelia Earhart, but the longer he spent time with her, the more he started to notice things. Like how she kept biting her lip when she was nervous. Or how she scrunched up her nose in frustration when she said something she shouldn't have. Or how her eyes glassed over when she thought no one was looking. He couldn't help but be curious about what had made her _her_.

Ziva just kept looking at him with her big eyes as if trying to read his mind and getting annoyed with the fact that she couldn't. Eventually she shook her head subtly and smirked. "Quite the psychologist, are you not?"

Tony didn't take the bait. "I'm right, aren't I?"

She looked at him sternly for a moment before her eyes softened slightly. "Perhaps." She said vaguely, chuckling lightly. "But enough with the 20 questions, Tony. Time to test out our skills."

Tony understood the previous topic was closed. "Fair enough. We have procrastinated for quite some time now." He grinned. "So, do you have anyone specific in mind?"

Ziva quirked an eyebrow at him and started scanning the room. "Oh okay. How about that tall leggy blonde over at the bar?"

Tony followed her line of view. "Ugh, no. That dress is way too short and way too tight."

Ziva turned to look at him in mock surprise. "I thought you men liked that. A treat for the eyes and all that."

Tony shook his head. "Ah, Ziva. You women always think that about men, but most of us have more class than that. It's amazing how much more appealing a woman who's showing just a little skin is, compared to the one who goes overboard. You just have to rope us in. We don't need a whole show right then and there." He said wisely.

Ziva seemed to be thinking that over and offered another suggestion. "Okay, what about that red-hair at the corner reading some kind of a book? She is classy enough for you, I would venture."

Tony nodded. "True. But she's not here looking for anyone. Look at how her hair is tightly in a neat bun. Not to mention the fact that she's reading a book. In a corner. At a _bar_." He shook his head again. "Talking to her would just be a recipe for rejection."

"Wow, you have done this a lot." She scrunched her nose. Tony chuckled at her. "Told you so."

Ziva just scowled at him. "Fine, fine." Her eyes wandered around the bar area. "Look at the brunette in the middle, standing there alone, fiddling with her drink. Her hair is down, she's wearing a very tasteful dress, she seems like she wants to be approached. Quite frankly, I am surprised no one hasn't yet."

"Maybe she's just been waiting for me." He grinned and started getting off the chair until Ziva stopped him. "No-no. Here is where I come in. Let the designated wingwoman work her magic."

"No offense, Zi, but I think it's my kind of magic she's looking for." He smirked at her.

Ziva narrowed her eyes at him. "I am well aware of that, Tony, but it is proven that women feel more comfortable around women. Just let me go talk to her for a couple of minutes and just smoothly come join us. I will introduce you."

He looked at her for a moment before exhaling deeply. "Fine, we'll do it your way. But you better not cost me a phone number." He said firmly, but she had already gone, waving her hand at him dismissively.

He looked at Ziva approaching the woman in red. She appeared to be on the same wavelength with her which surprised Tony a bit because Ziva didn't seem like the woman whom other females liked. Men weren't the only ones whom she intimidated. The other woman smiled at her, looking down at her dress. Ziva had probably complimented the garment. They both started laughing and Tony thought that now would be a good time to approach them.

Ziva turned to him and smiled brightly. "Oh there you are, Tony. This is Clarissa." She said and introduced them. Tony put on his best game face and reached out his hand. "Hey, nice to meet you." He noticed Clarissa's face instantly lighting up, seeming quite pleased with who Ziva's friend turned out to be. She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

Ziva winked at him knowingly. "Clarissa was just telling me how she is new in town and was looking for someone who would tell her all about the sights." She explained and then looked at the other woman. "I would have offered myself, but my boyfriend's brother is a local, so Tony would be much more use to you." She grinned and added. "He can be quite the tour guide."

Clarissa turned to look at him flirtingly. "Oh really? Well then I'm glad we met."

Tony returned the look and chuckled. "Same here."

Ziva had excused herself to go to the bathroom and Tony started telling her all about the things one could do here and they hit it off right away. They chatted with Clarissa a bit until she apologized for having to leave on the account of her being jet-lagged. She gave Tony her phone number in order to set up a day to go sightseeing together. Tony liked her, but he wasn't sure about setting up an official date with her, especially since he would be leaving in the end.

After Clarissa had left, Ziva found him and they went back to scouting out the place. He had always found the first move to be the hardest because women were often unresponsive to pick-up lines and mindless small talk, so it was difficult to find common ground within the first minutes. But with Ziva finding that for him, it was far more effortless.

They did a couple more rounds before they left. When they got to the house, Tony closed the door and turned around to see Ziva grinning at him. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"I am good, aren't I?" she smirked.

"So am I." he countered cheekily.

She chuckled and started skipping up the stairs to go to sleep. She stopped and glanced at him. "We make a good team." She winked at him and ascended, turning around the corner.

He let out a laugh and started running fingers through his hair, walking to the couch to lie down.

He had to admit, she was right. They did make a good team. They picked up each other's cues, knowing what to do by reading each other's faces and body language.

Tony's last thoughts before falling asleep were centered around wondering what it would be like to have someone like Ziva as his partner. Someone he was in perfect sync with. He hoped that, _that_ someone would end up in NCIS one day.

* * *

**Okay, so someone asked if you are going to find out stuff about Ziva. The answer is, yes, you will. Both Ziva's and Tony's past will be revealed eventually. **

**These chapters are more on the light side, but it will get a bit heavier soon. Uh oh :D**

**Anyway, thanks again for all the reviews and follows, it is just so great to hear all your thoughts and I just appreciate your support a LOT. It has been a bit of a crappy month, so it's just really nice to get some motivation :) **

**As always, let me know what you think :)**

**P.S. Also, for those of you who don't know, there is a petition going on to potentially/hopefully get Cote back and we could desperately use some more signatures, so just let me know if you want me to post the address or just send it to you, cause FF won't really let put urls here. **


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: This might come as a surprise to you, but I still don't own NCIS.**_

* * *

The next couple of days went by in a whir. Ziva and Nick were so busy with work that neither of them had time to entertain Tony who was slowly losing his mind. Luckily he had his trusty friend, the TV, to keep him company and Nick would be getting cut loose that night which meant that both, him and Ziva would not be working much for the next week or so.

Tony had been planning on taking Nick out to celebrate, but he had forgotten that the precinct had a tradition of taking the ex-rookies and TOs for a night out on town. He hadn't even heard either of them coming home last night, so he figured they had had a blast.

The next morning, Tony was reading the newspaper and drinking coffee, when he heard steps coming down the stairs, revealing a surprisingly chipper little brother.

"Good morning, Tony." he said brightly.

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "Why are you so happy? And why aren't you hungover? I thought you went celebrating last night."

Nick chuckled and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. "We did, but let's just say that my better half drank enough for the both of us."

Tony let out a laugh. "So we can expect a cranky Ziva today? Oh joy."

"Yeah, she's still sleeping it off, so hopefully it won't be too bad."

"I highly doubt that." Tony snorted.

Nick just grinned. "Yeah, you might be right."

He started making breakfast when Tony asked. "So, how does it feel not being a rookie anymore?"

"I don't know. Same I guess." He shrugged.

"Oh come on, Nicky. You're off the leash. Try to feel some happiness about it, will you?" Tony said amusedly.

Nick huffed. "I _am _happy. If not for anything else then at least because Ziva and I can go public now. It's just-"he paused and let out a sigh. "it's just that I feel more pressure now."

Tony glanced up at him and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "More pressure? How? You have all the makings to be a great police officer."

"That's exactly why! Everybody expects me to do great, but I don't know if I can live up to their expectations."

Tony put down his cup and looked at him with a serious face. "Nick, you don't have to live up to anybody's expectations. Just do the best you can and you'll be perfectly fine."

Nick seemed to have ignored his comment and just muttered. "Not to mention the fact that my older brother is a legend."

Tony scoffed and said sarcastically. "Oh yeah, I have a real talent for messing things up."

That seemed to have set Nick off and he shouted. "Oh get a grip, Tony! The only person who thinks you're a screw-up is _you_. Don't you get it? You are completely delusional in thinking that all you ever did was make a mess."

Tony just stared at his brother in shock, never having seen him so agitated before, excluding the time Tony had hidden his collection of superhero action figures. "Dad would beg to differ." He tried pointing out.

Nick just threw his hands up in the air. "God, Tony, I don't understand what your beef with Dad is. He only ever wanted you to be just a little more careful about whose toes you were stepping on. He has never not been proud of you." He rambled in frustration and continued, "And as far as I'm concerned, I've always looked up to you, so you have got to get over your little self-deprecating routine. Why do you think I got into law enforcement in the first place?"

Tony didn't know what to say, so he just settled with gaping at Nick. "What do you mean?" he stuttered.

Nick's eyes softened a bit and he said. "I didn't do it because of Dad, Tony. I did it because of you. Yeah, I know you weren't that fond of rules, but you have done so much good. Rules are there to protect yourself, but you didn't care about that. All you wanted to do was protect others. And I thought to myself that I would be lucky if I ever grew up to be half the man you are."

Tony just looked at him in awe. He had no idea his brother had such a high opinion of him. What he said, made his heart swell and he was glad that Tony half-raising him hadn't screwed Nick up.

"Cat got your tongue, Tony? I think this is the first time I've made you speechless." Nick chuckled at his gob-smacked expression. "Usually that's Ziva's forté."

Tony shook his head lightly and said in a serious tone. "Thanks, Nick. I-I didn't know you thought that of me. I appreciate it."

Nick just smiled at him lightly and shrugged. "What's true is true." And sat at the table, eating his breakfast.

Tony tried to go back to reading the newspaper, but he kept replaying Nick's words over and over again in his head. He was brought out of his reverie a couple of minutes later when Nick got up and told him he was going to the store to pick up some groceries for the Christmas dinner Ziva was going to cook tomorrow. Nick was almost at the door when Tony yelled across the hallway. "Bring some painkillers, tomatoes, eggs and OJ, will you?"

"What for?" Nick asked in confusion.

"I'm pretty sure Ziva is going to wake up soon and she's not gonna be happy. You're too innocent to know the perfect hangover cure, but luckily for the both of you, yours truly," Tony gestured at himself, "knows the trick."

"Alright." Nick let out a laugh and went out the door.

* * *

After about an hour Nick left, Tony had moved himself to the couch and was watching another episode of _Survivor_, when he heard slow, heavy steps coming down the stairs. He turned to look over his shoulder to see a messy-haired Ziva sluggishly stomping towards him. He couldn't help but notice that even a hungover Ziva looked pretty damn gorgeous.

"And how are you on this fine afternoon?" he grinned at her.

She just grunted at him and crawled to sit on the sofa.

"Aw, Zi, are you feeling a bit under the weather? I wonder why." He teased.

She gradually opened her eyes, only to scowl at him. "Can you go away?"

Tony shook his head. "And miss this fine opportunity to mock you endlessly? Never." He smirked.

Ziva just kept scowling at him and asked. "Where is Nick?"

"Nicky went to grab some food and I was kind enough to tell him to get you more painkillers." He casually said and let out a small chuckle when he saw Ziva's eyes brightening up a bit.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed again, furrowing her brows and asking. "I heard some yelling. What was going on?"

"Oh I just pissed off my usually subdued little brother a bit." He shrugged and went back to watching the TV.

"I am surprised it took you this long." She said smugly.

Tony scoffed. "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine?"

Ziva ignored his sarcasm infused rhetorical question and enquired. "So what did you do to make him lash out on you?"

"Not much. I think I've just misjudged his view on me. I'm really pleased that he thinks so highly of me, but I think we have a difference in opinions." He was delighted beyond reason that Nick considered him to be such a hotshot, but reality was different as far as Tony was concerned.

"We always think the worst of ourselves." She said in a thoughtful tone and turned to smile at him sadly. "Younger siblings constantly believe the older ones live on some kind of a magical level that they can never hope to reach."

Tony glanced at her, confused by the gloomy way she said it. Her eyes had once again glassed over and he had a sudden desire to comfort her somehow, but before he knew it, she blinked and bent over to grab the remote.

Tony automatically leaned back to prevent her from taking it. "Hey, will you cut that out?"

Ziva froze mid-movement. "Cut what out?"

"Snatching the remote from me all the time. You don't even own a TV." Tony responded in disbelief.

"So what? That does not stop me from enjoying it here." She grinned.

"Be that as it may, Nicky might be willing to relinquish his hold voluntarily because you do certain…favors for him." Ziva raised her eyebrows at him after he said that but he continued. "However, that won't work on me."

Ziva smirked at him. "I have other ways of getting it from you. Have you forgotten that I am a Mossad ninja?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "You wouldn't dare."

Ziva let out a smug laugh. "Oh Tony. I always dare."

"Not when I have a present for you." He said casually.

Ziva eyed him suspiciously. "What kind of a present?"

"Oh I don't know." He drew out the words slowly. "Perhaps some painkillers."

Ziva instantly hopped next to him, dangerously close. "Give them to me." She gritted through her teeth.

He seemed to be mulling that thought over his head to tease Ziva. "Only when you ask nicely and let me have the remote." He smirked.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Fine. Will you please give me the painkillers, oh mighty Tony? Pretty please?"

"And?"

Ziva huffed. "And I will not take the remote from you now."

Tony mussed her already messy hair and laughed. "Good girl." He got up to grab the pills and handed them to Ziva.

She took them eagerly from him and swallowed them right away. Guess she didn't need water.

Tony sat back down on the couch and reached for the remote from the table. When Tony leaned back on the cushion, Ziva plopped her legs on his lap, lying down on the couch in full length, muttering something about sweet reprieve.

Tony let out a small chuckle and went back to watching _Survivor_, unconsciously rubbing circles on Ziva's legs. He noticed after a while that a soft snoring noise was coming from her, so he got up to grab a blanket and covered her with it.

He couldn't help but note how innocent and peaceful she looked when she was sleeping. Like she didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders, no matter how much she acted like nothing bothered her. Tony knew she had Nick and he was happy for them, but he had a feeling that perhaps Ziva needed a friend also to help her carry the load.

And he hoped that she would let him be that friend.

* * *

**Ookay, well, we had some brother time here. But um yeah, I hope you like how the relationship between Tony and Ziva is developing and you're gonna get a couple of answers to their past, soonish. I think.  
**

**Anyway, as always, a big gigantic thanks to you all who have reviewed and followed and in general, reading this fic. I'm so glad, cause that's my motivation currently, so I'm really grateful :)**

**Let me know what you think :)**

**(Also, I'm gonna try and update _Always Save Her_ soon. I know the break has been way too long, I just haven't had time to actually sit down and write something. But I haven't abandoned it!)**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: You all know the drill.**_

* * *

It was Christmas morning and since Nick had to go in to work for an hour to sign some papers, the three of them had decided to change presents in the evening. Tony had gotten Nick a Swiss Army Knife with an engraving _Live For Yourself, Nicky_. He wished it would remind him to take off some of this pressure to do well for the sake of other people.

Getting a present for Ziva was a bit trickier, but he thought he had managed to come up with a pretty good idea. He just hoped Ziva liked it as much as he did.

During the day, Ziva was basically chained to the kitchen and she barely ever left the room, so it was up to him and Nick to decorate the living room and set up the table. They knew Ziva didn't celebrate Christmas, but she went along with the holiday to please the brothers.

It was about an hour before dinner and Tony had just finished with the Christmas tree when he turned around to see Nick setting an extra plate on the table. "Are we expecting company?" He wondered.

Tony saw Nick looking at him nervously, shifting around a lot. "Um…yeah. About that, Tony." He stammered and started pacing around the room. "I-I've kinda invited Dad over."

Tony froze. "You did _what_?" He couldn't believe his brother.

Ziva had poked her head out of the kitchen. "What are you boys yelling at?"

"Oh nothing, Zi." Tony snickered. "It just seems like your boyfriend seems to have a death wish."

Ziva just rolled her eyes at him and went back to cooking.

Nick put up his arms in front of him as if to defend himself. "Okay, look, before you start yelling at me, you should know that one of the reasons I invited him was to tell him about me and Ziva."

Tony narrowed his eyes at Nick and spoke in a terrifyingly controlled voice. "And you couldn't wait until I was gone to do that?"

"That brings me to the second reason." He muttered. "I want you guys to start mending your relationship and what better time for that than Christmas?"

"Oh I don't know, how about never?" he said in a mocking voice and went back to harassing the decorations on the tree.

Nick let out a sigh. "Tony, I don't know what happened between you two, but you need to work it out. You're family. Maybe you won't ever figure out your problems, but I'm begging you, set them aside for Christmas. For me."

Tony let his head slump. He really didn't want to see Senior, but his brother seemed so adamant about them having dinner together, so he figured he would please his brother. Only to shut him up.

Tony took a deep breath and turned to look at him. "Fine. But I can't promise I will succeed in being civil for the whole evening."

Nick's face brightened up instantly and gave him a big smile. "I don't expect you to." He paused and added softly, "Thank you."

Tony just grunted in response and went to turn on the lights on the Christmas tree when the doorbell rang.

Nick left the living room to go open the door. He heard his father's laugh across two rooms, nearing towards Tony.

"Hello, son." Senior smiled nervously.

"Hi, Dad." He said coolly. Tony looked at him, seeing that he had gained a few pounds, but other than that he looked the same when he had last seen him a couple of years ago. Tony didn't really want to hold eye contact with Senior, so he went back to fumbling with the lights even though they were just fine.

Luckily, Ziva came just in time to divert his father's attention away from Tony.

"Hello, Chief." She said cheerfully. "Merry Christmas."

Senior looked quite surprised at seeing her here. "My dear Ziva. What are you doing here? I didn't know you had become such good friends with Nick."

Nick stepped in and timidly grabbed Ziva's waist to give his Dad a small hint. "We aren't." he coughed to clear his voice. "That is, we are not just friends. We-we are together."

Senior's eyebrows shot up at this admission and Ziva had started to bite her lip again. Tony couldn't help but chuckle quietly how well one could read Ziva if they learnt the tells. Not that telling her boss, who also happened to be her boyfriend's father, that they had been breaking the rules, was anything but nerve-racking.

"Oh." The older man said ambiguously. "Well…uhh..not that I am all that happy about you two breaking one of the main rules at work-" he paused when he saw Nick's fallen face, "but Nick, you aren't a rookie anymore and it's pretty obvious that this hasn't affected your work in any way, so welcome to the family, Ziva. I'm happy that Nick didn't let such a stunning and lovely woman like yourself slip through his fingers." He said, smiling, and reached out to grab Ziva in a hug. Her whole body language relaxed and she responded to the hug warmly.

Tony was quite shocked that Senior hadn't lectured either of them for an hour. The man was a stickler for rules, for less noble reasons than Nick. But Tony figured Ziva had made quite an impression on the man and quite frankly, Tony didn't blame him. Ziva was enchanting.

Suddenly he felt the woman in question next to him, looking amused. "I think the lights are just fine now, Tony. You have been at them for 2 hours."

Oh. Tony frowned. "Right, yeah."

She patted him on the shoulder and said, "Dinner is ready. Come on."

He followed her like a puppy and went to sit next to Nick.

The three of them were left alone in the living room at the table when Ziva had gone to the kitchen to grab the food.

'Awkward' is the word with what Tony would describe the ambiance there. Tony was just staring at his plate, he could feel Nick flicking his eyes between him and Senior and the latter was probably just taking in the house he hadn't been to for so long.

Ziva came back to the room with all kinds of plates and bowls filled with food. She sat next to Senior, opposite Nick and said in a merry voice, "Dig in."

They all started eating away, making polite small talk in-between, mainly talking about Nick's future plans and how he had managed to woo Ziva. For once, Tony was happy to be the listener because he didn't really want to engage in the chatting, afraid that something would lead to talking about a topic that was taboo. Sometimes he could see Ziva eyeing him compassionately as if trying to apologize for Nick bringing Senior here. Out of all the people here, he guessed that she was the one who understood his apprehension the best.

However, his luck ran out soon when Nick decided to include him in the conversation. "So, Dad, you know, Tony is doing really well at NCIS." He said carefully.

"Oh, that's nice. I'm glad." Senior smiled and added, chuckling. "It's good that you didn't abandon us for nothing."

And there you go. Tony knew this was a bad idea the second Nick told him.

But he swallowed his anger and tried to act civil like he had promised his brother. "Yeah it's great." He plastered on a fake smile. "The team there is amazing and we do a lot of good."

Senior took a sip of water and asked, "So, what's your end-game? I'm hoping you're aiming to be the Director, yes?"

"I haven't really thought about it, Dad." Tony said numbly. They were reaching dangerous territory.

The older man raised his eyebrows. "Why not, Junior? You have to think about these things. You can't go running around with your head cut off at a federal agency like you did here. You have to make plans."

Tony gritted his teeth in frustration and he could see Nick's eyes pleading him to stay calm. "I wouldn't exactly call it that." He tried.

Senior just frowned and looked at him disapprovingly. "Well, I'm sorry, son, but you just kept doing whatever you liked at the precinct. Now, I'm not saying that you didn't do your job well as far as protecting the public was concerned, but you can't just blindly follow your gut and hope it works out. You have to think about the rules and what it will do to your record."

That was the last straw for Tony. He looked at his father bitterly. "I think you are the last person to lecture me about the benefits of worrying about your career, Dad. Do you seriously not remember the last time it backfired on you?" He could see his father pale and pull his lips into a tight line. Nick just let out a deep sigh, distressed about how the dinner had gone awry, luckily not paying attention to what Tony had just said. Ziva, on the other hand, looked at him curiously, but didn't ask anything.

Tony pushed his chair away from the table and got up to glance at Nick. "I'm sorry, Nicky, but this is as far as I go with this man." He said and turned to Ziva. "Thank you for the lovely dinner, Zi, but I think I'm full now." Ziva nodded slowly and with that, Tony left the room.

He didn't feel like going out, everything was closed anyway, so he had ended up on their back porch, sitting on the edge of the beam of the porch.

The air was cool and it was dark outside, but he didn't care. He needed some air.

He could hear the back door open and he sighed, not really wanting to see either of his family members. "Nicky, look, I really don't-" he started, but was interrupted.

"It is not Nick." He turned and saw Ziva. "Sorry, just thought you could use some quiet company." She said timidly.

Tony just kept staring at her and as much as he didn't want to be around anyone, he realized that Ziva would have been the first choice, if he did.

So, he let her stay.

* * *

**Oof, so sorry for not updating sooner, but I was at a cottage for a couple of days, so I didn't have any way to post a new chapter. But I'm back now, so yay. **

**Anyway, this was basically an intro chapter to the next one. You should get some insight into Tony's life the next chapter. **

**As always, thanks for your love guys! **

**I hope you liked it and let me know what you think :)**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: Not mine.**_

* * *

He turned his back on Ziva, and leaned his head on the pillar, watching the snowy open ground in front of him. She came to sit next to him, flinging her legs over the beam, letting them dangle up in the air.

"So," she started, "You guys have quite the family dynamic."

He let out a bark at the bizarre truth that echoed in that sentence. "That's one way to put it, yeah."

"You are really not that fond of your father." She said that as a statement, not as a question.

"I'm sure you can relate." He shrugged.

Ziva pursed her lips. "I can, but I am fairly certain my reasons are different from yours."

"I don't even know your reasons." He simply said.

Ziva let out a deep exhale. "It is complicated."

Tony snorted. "Isn't it always."

She didn't answer and Tony just couldn't keep in any longer and blurted out. "It's just like, the man is unbelievable. He scolds me for focusing more on saving people rather than building my career." He huffed and continued. "Of all the people in the world, he should know what kind of consequences it can have."

"Your mother?" Ziva asked quietly.

Tony whipped his head towards her so fast it would have made him dizzy, if not for the utter shock he was feeling. "Wh-what? How did you know?"

Ziva just shrugged. "I did not. I figured, him, pushing you to advance your career cannot be the only reason you hold a torch for him. Every parent does that. So, there must have been more to it and what you said tonight at dinner, confirmed it."

Wow. So, he's not the only one who observes people. But he didn't think anyone could figure out his biggest secret, let alone his brother's girlfriend if even his brother hadn't managed it yet.

"I-I" he stuttered. "It is okay, Tony. You do not have to talk about it." Ziva smiled at him gently.

"No, but I want to." He assured her. "God, Ziva, I have been keeping this in for so long to hide it from Nick and it's just been eating me alive." He let out an exasperated sigh and leaned his head again.

Ziva didn't say anything and just kept looking at him with the softest expression. Tony decided to get courage from it and started to speak. "Things weren't always like this, you know. We were a happy family despite Dad working all the time. Like with many police officers, his job had become his life. But we accepted it, he did the best he could." He shrugged slightly. "And we had Mom, so it's not like we were alone all the time. She was great." He smiled at the memory of her. "She was basically a housewife, but she was also an amazing painter with passion for movies. That's where yours truly got the mania." He gestured at himself. "You know, _The Little Prince _was the last movie we ever saw together. After that, I decided that going to the cinema every week, would be a way to honor her." He said thoughtfully. "But anyway, eventually, Dad got promoted to Chief which meant that he had to work even harder to prove his worth."

He paused to take a deep breath because now he was now getting to the harder part.

"And then something happened?" Ziva urged gently.

Tony scoffed. "Yep. Something happened alright." He shifted a bit and started fiddling with his fingers. "One day, when I came home from school, Mom wasn't there. Nicky was still at kindergarten at the time, so he wasn't home. When I called Dad, he told me to pick my brother up and take him to family friends and then come to the precinct. Apparently, Mom had been kidnapped by some mafia boss Dad had pissed off during his detective days by putting away his drug lord of a brother. His demand was to release his brother and in exchange Dad would get Mom back. But he had to refuse and they didn't manage to come up with another solution fast enough." Tony closed his eyes. "Evidently, letting a criminal go for an innocent by-stander was just too big of a request. The guys upstairs didn't give the thumbs up. "

He let out a shaky sigh and coughed to bite back the potential tears. "So, Dad sent me home at one point and when I got there, Mom's body was lying on the front steps with a bullet in her head."

He heard Ziva gasp and he wasn't really surprised. It was quite a story. "The whole thing was covered up pretty tightly because Dad didn't want Nicky to know about this and it showed the precinct in a very bad light."

She scooted closer to him and took his right hand in hers. "I am so sorry that you had to go through that, Tony." She whispered.

"Thanks. Wasn't the greatest experience of my life." He resorted back to sarcasm. "And it's like, rationally, I can understand why Dad couldn't comply to their wishes. The brother was a really bad person and had done a lot of evil, so letting him loose on the streets would have probably cost a lot of people their lives. And I'm sure, it's not like Dad didn't try as hard as he could. But it-it's just," he huffed in frustration, "it's just the fact that if it would have been my wife? If it would have been the love of my life, I wouldn't have given a damn about orders and what I was _supposed _to do. I would have just told everybody to go to hell and broken the guy out myself. Who else is worth risking everything for if not for your family?"

He looked down at their joined hands and saw that Ziva had started fiddling with his fingers. "I am not going to defend him, Tony, it is terrible what happened to your family, but," she sighed and continued, "you get orders. You may not like them, but you follow them. That is why they are called orders." She said quietly. "And that is most likely why your father did not do anything else even though it must have torn him apart."

Tony had to admit, she had a small point. He always knew that, but it was so hard to feel for his father when he was basically the reason their mother got killed. That's probably why he had decided not to care about rules his father seemed to be so fond of. Because he didn't want anyone else to go through what he had. But Ziva was right about their father suffering from the whole thing also.

"Is that what they taught you in Mossad?" he asked, turning to look at her, but she was too close to see her face properly.

"Among other things, yes." She replied ever-so-vaguely again. "Why do you not want to tell Nick?" she diverted attention away from herself once more. "Don't you think he deserves to know?"

"Because," he mumbled, "I don't want him to have the memories I do. You know how he is. He still believes in the good in people and I don't want him to lose that. The world is a bitter place for people like me." He paused and coughed. "Besides, as much as I dislike Dad, I don't want Nicky to have the same opinion. Dad doesn't deserve to lose both sons. And even though, Nicky didn't have much contact with Dad after Mom died, he never seemed to despise him for it." He chuckled sadly. "Which is a true testament to how good he really is, like you said."

Ziva turned to look up at him, gazing deep into his eyes. "So are you."

Tony wanted to smile at her and then make a self-deprecating joke, but he wasn't able to make his facial muscles move. He was just so lost in her vast brown eyes. Her eyes didn't hold so much of compassion, but rather understanding. He could see her struggling as much him to turn away because this was turning out to be a dangerous invasion of personal space, but until either of them could do anything about it, Tony felt her shiver and he realized, she must be freezing.

He blinked and said softly, "You should go inside. You're turning all blue here comforting me."

She gave him a smile and leaned back to throw her legs over to the other side of the beam. She started grinning. "Are you saying blue is not a good color on me?"

"Nah, I think warm and alive is more your color." He smirked back. Ziva just gave him a chuckle and got up to go inside the house.

When she was almost at the door, Tony remembered that with all the family drama that had been going on, he had forgotten to give Ziva her Christmas present. "Hey, Zi."

"Yeah?" she turned back to look at him.

"Come here for a minute." Tony requested.

Her brows furrowed in confusion and she started walking towards him. Tony reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. "Here." He reached out his hand. "I forgot to give you your present."

Ziva's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she yelped quietly. "Oh, but I did not get you anything."

Tony smiled and shrugged. "That's alright. You don't celebrate Christmas anyway, I just saw this and thought you might like it. It's not anything fancy."

Ziva reached for the box and slowly opened it. "Oh my God, Tony." Tony couldn't describe it, but she looked at him with something akin to awe. "You should not have." She slightly shook her head and took out the Star of David necklace he had bought her. "This is too much. I cannot accept it." She said softly and stretched out her hand to give it back to him.

Tony flung his legs over to the porch and stood up to look her intently in the eye. "Yes you can. Look," he huffed, not really wanting to argue about this. "Just take it. Consider it a gift from a good friend." he paused and thought about whether to add the next part, but decided for it. "Besides, I know that you don't like to talk about your home, but I figured that there's a part of you that still misses it, so this necklace might be something that tethers you to it. You know, remind you of the good times."

Ziva just kept staring at him with that blank face when she blurted out, "Where did you come from?" She scrunched up her nose again, probably not having planned on saying it out loud.

He let out a bark and raised his eyebrow at her. "Oh I descended from a magical cloud, riding Pegasus with smoke and thunder accompanying my arrival." He grinned.

She snorted and looked at him with a mock expression. "You have watched way too many Disney movies."

"Perhaps, but that is what happened, Ms. David." He teased, but added in a serious tone, "Now turn around and let me put the necklace on. If you want to that is." He asked hesitantly.

Her expression softened instantly. "Of course. It is beautiful." She said quietly and turned her back on Tony, so he could put it on.

He brushed aside her soft brown locks and leaned forward to reach around her neck. He clasped the necklace and let her luscious hair fall back. "There you go."

She smiled and looked down at the star, fiddling with it a bit. When she glanced back up, she looked at him with such adoration Tony hadn't seen directed towards him before. She took a couple of steps and surprised Tony with giving him a firm hug. He tensed for a second before eagerly returning the embrace, tightening his grip around her back.

"Thank you, Tony." She whispered into his ear, tickling his neck.

He smiled against her shoulder. "You're welcome, Zi."

She leaned back and looked deeply into his eyes, before extracting herself and walking back inside.

Tony didn't want to go to sleep yet, so he just went back to sit on the beam and wondered how despite everything, this had turned out to be one of the best Christmas' he has ever had.

* * *

**Uhh, okay, well, one mystery solved, I hope. I was quite happy with the chapter, so I hope you like it too.**

**Once again, thanks for all the support! I love reading all your thoughts :)**

**Anyway, let me know what you think :)**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: You all know the drill.**_

* * *

Tony woke up the next day, lying in his bed, replaying all of the events from the previous night over in his head. He wasn't all that happy about seeing his father again, but the argument with Senior had resulted in him having one of the most open conversations he has ever had with anyone. He was glad that someone knew about his 'secret', it was like a load off his shoulders.

He was also glad about the fact that it was Ziva. She was so non-judgmental and she had this understanding in her eyes, he quite couldn't pinpoint.

She had started to quickly become the best friend he had never had. He just hoped he could return the favor one day, if she let him. She was incredibly guarded with her emotions and quite frankly, he couldn't understand how it didn't drive Nick up the wall.

He guessed it was one of the inherent differences with his brother. Tony was so curious by nature, he wanted to know everything, but Nick just accepted what people gave him. It was admirable in a way. But sometimes people needed a push.

He sighed and decided that time for introspective reflection was over because his stomach had started to growl.

When he got downstairs, Ziva was nowhere to be seen, finding his baby brother drowning in all kinds of papers at the kitchen table instead.

"Have you switched your day job to an office temp?" he said teasingly and went to the fridge to grab some milk for the cereal.

Nick's head whipped up quite comically, having not realized Tony had come into the room. "Huh? Oh hey Tony." He greeted absentmindedly and went back to writing.

Tony frowned. "What in the world are you fussing about there?"

"I-I'm just filling out some forms." Nick mumbled. "It's nothing."

"Yeah, I can see that, Nicky." he chuckled lightly and went to sit on the opposite end of the table. He started eating his cereal, grabbing some of the papers that were lying around. Tony's eyes widened at what he saw. "Undercover?"

Nick pursed his lips. "You shouldn't have seen these."

"Yeah and that's why you did it in the secret kitchen?"

Nick frowned. "I didn't think you would wake up this early."

"But why, Nick?" He asked with a sigh. "Don't you think it's a little soon for that?"

His brother scoffed. "Weren't you the one who told me that I was good enough?"

Tony stopped eating and pushed his cereal away. "Of course you're good enough, but you're just fresh out of being a rookie. Gather some ground before you dive into something like that."

Nick rolled his eyes and went back to the papers. "I don't want to wait anymore, Tony. I want to show what I'm capable of and this is perfect for this."

"I told you that you don't have to prove yourself to anyone, least of all to Dad." he said.

"Tony!" Nick suddenly huffed loudly. "Not everything is about what Dad wants. This is what _I_ want. I want to prove that I can do this, for myself. That I'm good enough. I know that you believe that and I greatly appreciate all the faith you have in me, but I need to believe it myself also. I need to stop feeling so hesitant about my gut."

Tony just stared at him. He still didn't think this was a good idea, but Nick seemed so adamant about it. And maybe, after this, he would finally think that he is worth all the praise people give him.

"Besides, this still might fall through." Nick smiled weakly.

Tony let out a scoff. "Oh please, Nicky. If anyone is going to get it, it's you."

Nick smiled, but looked at Tony nervously. "So, will you be okay? Are you going to support me in this?"

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course, I'm going to support you. I'm always going to be there for you, you know that." He paused and remembered, "What about Ziva, though? What does she think of all this?"

"She doesn't want to affect my decision. She wants me to decide for myself." he shrugged and looked Tony warily. "But she doesn't know that I've already sort of been picked, unofficially that is. I just want to make sure before I tell her."

"But you'll be going? She'll be all alone." Tony said in concern.

Nick looked up at him and tilted his head. "She has you now." he said and glanced back down on his papers. "I'm really glad you guys get along so well. I always knew that she would charm you as well, but I had my doubts. We both know how picky you can be about my choices." he chuckled lightly. "You _are _going to make sure she's alright, yes?"

Tony furrowed his brows. "Of course, Nick. She's family." Even if Nick wouldn't be going undercover, Tony would check up on her as often as he could. She was his friend.

Nick smiled brightly at him. "See? Everything will work out just fine."

Tony returned the smile, but was still hesitant about the brilliancy of this plan. Undercover operations were often a death trap. But he had to have faith in his brother.

Before he could think of all the worst-case scenarios, the door opened and a red-faced Ziva jogged in. "Hello, boys." she said cheerfully and went to give Nick a kiss who had managed to inconspicuously hide his papers.

"Did you just go for a run?" Tony asked in surprise and looked at the clock. "It's like 7.30 in the morning."

"Oh please, Tony. This is late. I already slept in accidentally. I usually go around 5 or 6." she said casually and went to get a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Are you insane? Do you really hate sleep that much?" he asked disbelievingly.

She paled for a moment before throwing a teasing look back on. "You know, Tony, you could use some exercise as well."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my body."

Ziva just smirked. "If you say so."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "I play basketball every weekend and let me tell you, I kick everybody's asses."

Ziva quirked an eyebrow challengingly. "Prove it."

Tony gulped. "What?"

"Prove it." Ziva shrugged. "There's a basketball court a block away. If you are such a hotshot, show me. Nick will come along."

Nick shook his head. "Oh no, leave me out of this. I have work to do and besides, I don't want to embarrass myself out there."

Tony turned to eye her suspiciously. "You can play basketball?"

Tony heard Nick chuckle quietly in the corner.

"Yeah, I have played it a couple of times." she said, shrugging absentmindedly.

"Well, you're gonna need more skills than that with me." He said smugly and got up to go get changed.

"We will see." he heard her grinning from across the hallway.

* * *

They got to the court about an hour later and no one was there, considering that it was dead of winter. But it wasn't too chilly and the snow had melted a bit, so they were still able to play.

"So who's going first?" Tony asked, walking out on the court, bouncing the ball.

"Age before beauty, Tony." she grinned, coming to stand opposite him.

Tony narrowed his eyes at her, scoffing. "Well aren't you just so witty?" he said sarcastically.

"I am glad you agree." she smirked. "Now come on, show me your moves."

Tony kept scowling at her for a couple of seconds, before starting to dribble, trying to take things slow. But Ziva just came running at him, taking the ball from him and easily jump-shooting.

"Hey," Tony whined. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"I told you I have played a couple of games before," she said grinning smugly.

"What do you mean by "a couple of games" exactly?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Oh," she said and kept bouncing the ball casually, "I mean that I am on the precinct's main basketball team."

Tony gaped at her. She was unbelievable. What couldn't she do?

He quickly wiped the awe-stricken look off his face and huffed. "Right. So was I. Not to mention the fact that I was also in my high-school's varsity basketball team." he countered.

"Well then, you should have enough skills not to fall behind with 20 points." she said mockingly.

"Okaay, Ms. David. Enough trash talk. It's game time." he said dismissively.

"Finally." she said and started dribbling, before pausing and adding. "Do not go easy on me. I will not return the favor." she smirked.

"Bring it." he taunted.

The game quickly picked up speed and Tony had to admit, Ziva was skilled. She rather easily blocked his shots and quite frankly, she could get quite violent. But as per her request, Tony didn't lay off her. He blocked her shots the same way which made for an even game. The score was 30-30 when Tony said, "Okay, whoever gets this shot, wins."

Ziva quirked an eyebrow. "What do they win?"

"Uhh, the game?" Tony asked in confusion.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Obviously, but what are the stakes?"

Tony mulled that thought over. "Well, what would you like?"

"Hmm," Ziva tapped her finger against the ball thoughtfully when her face lit up, "Oh I know. You have to read through the book I give you."

Tony moaned. "Ah Zi, no. I'm not a book person."

Ziva huffed. "That is the whole point, Tony. Now what is it that you want?"

He didn't have to think about that long. "In that case, you have to go through a movie marathon with me." he grinned.

Ziva groaned. "Fine. Fair enough." she mumbled. "Your ball." she said and threw the ball at him. "Do your best."

Tony smirked and started bouncing the ball carefully. He thought about dribbling and then doing a jump-shot, but Ziva was terrifyingly good at blocking him mid-run, so he decided for a set-shot right then and there.

When Ziva realized, what he was doing, Tony saw her running towards him with full-speed and he had to quickly make his shot, when she tackled him to the cold wet ground.

"Ow." he complained and opened his eyes to see a wild-haired Ziva straddling him, watching him closely with an impish twinkle in her eyes.

"Did not dare to go past me, yes?" she tilted her head at him.

"I thought it was the lesser of two evils, but I guess not." he said, gesturing at the situation.

"Serves you right." she grinned.

Tony smiled back and was slowly becoming aware that she was basically sitting on top of him, with her face dangerously close to his. He could feel the warmth radiating from her and see her looking at him with an undecipherable expression. The laughter died out in both of them and they were stuck staring at each other, not managing to move.

However, Tony suddenly realized that it was his brother's girlfriend whom he was mesmerized by and let out a shaky cough, breaking the spell. Ziva blinked and jumped off him quickly, reaching out her hand to help pull Tony up.

"So I guess that means I won." he said hesitantly.

Ziva let her eyes wander nervously for a moment, before realizing what that meant. "Ah, God. That means I am stuck on the couch all day." she groaned.

Tony took that as his cue to forget about the previous moment. "Seriously, Zi, that sounds more like a reward than a punishment." He shook his head, grinning.

"Not when it is with you." she said and stuck out her tongue.

Tony feigned horror. "Hey. What's wrong with watching a movie with me?"

Ziva let out a huff. "It would be nothing, but you comment on the movie the _entire _time and when you do not, then you are mouthing the words and making facial expressions of the characters."

Huh. He didn't realize that he did that. He figured he was too enraptured by the movie that it just kind of brought him to that little world.

"Oh." he frowned. "Well, I'll try to refrain from doing that in the future."

Ziva let out a sigh and smiled at him lightly. "I admit, it is annoying, but you would not be you, if you did not do those quirky things. Besides, Nick already warned me about that before you came here, so I am used to it by now."

Tony's mood brightened up. "So, how about tomorrow then?"

Ziva's face paled for a moment and she said quietly, "I cannot tomorrow."

"You're not bailing out on the bet, are you?"

She smiled at him shakily. "No. A bet is a bet, Tony. Just not tomorrow."

He looked at her, concerned about the sudden change in her mood, but decided not to ask about right at that moment, as they were freezing their butts off. "How about the day after that then? I'm going back to D.C. in a couple of days." he remembered.

She nodded. "Yeah, that would be fine." she said, giving him a small smile and then went to get her things.

Tony watched her go, wondering what she would be doing tomorrow that seemed to scare the living daylights out of her. He wanted to know, because he wanted to help her.

He wasn't sure if the over-protectiveness talking, was the cop in him or the simple fact that he had gotten attached to Ziva in a way he wouldn't like to admit.

But either way, he would find out what bothered her. She helped him, now it was time to do the same for her.

* * *

**Dun dun. **

**So you got some brother time aand some Tiva fun. **

**The next one should be about Ziva, so another part of the mystery will be solved.**

**You guys are all so lovely and I seriously cannot thank you enough for all your support. It is what fuels my motivation, so I'm just really grateful.**

**Anyway, as always, let me know what you think :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the longer break guys, been a bit busy. But it's the longest chapter so far, so hopefully yaay. Also, it would be awesome if you read the A/N at the end afterwards. Some information there.**

_**Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.**_

* * *

The following day was weird to say the least.

Tony had gotten up bright and early and Ziva had already managed to go running and disappear somewhere else when she had gotten back. Nick had told Tony that they both had stuff to do and that they wouldn't be back until dinner.

Everything seemed just so incredibly hinky, for the lack of a more adequate word.

Tony knew Ziva had some 'thing' she was supposed to be doing today, but Nick had never been one to keep secrets and that kinda freaked him out. He supposed it was something to do with the undercover assignment, so it would make sense that he couldn't really talk about it. But Tony wanted to know. He was still his brother.

When the evening came and Ziva got home, she went straight to cooking, not bothering to make small talk with Tony who was watching a movie in the living room. He wanted to ask what she had been doing, but figured it wasn't the right time as she seemed quite on edge and gloomy at the same time.

Nick had gotten home just in time for dinner and appeared to be quite in thought when he came to sit at the table with Tony and Ziva. Everybody were just quietly eating dinner, not saying a word when Tony couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay seriously, what is up with you two?" Tony huffed and threw his fork on the table.

Both of them looked up at him with bewildered faces. "What do you mean?" Nick questioned.

Tony rolled his eyes in frustration. "Look at you! Nicky, you, have been acting like you have some big secret you're carrying around and ginormously failing at covering it up. And Ziva hasn't mocked me once today. It's creeping me out!"

The couple in question was just staring at him with blank faces and Tony couldn't understand how they didn't notice that they were acting strange. Even more, how it took Tony to point it out. But he figured they were both so busy with their own problems, they didn't notice their other half acting the same way.

Ziva was the first to speak up, looking at him with a fiercely stern face. "I am fine, Tony."

Nick decided to pipe in. "So am I. I think you're overreacting."

"Oh no I'm not. I know the ninja here has her reasons and I don't have any proper right to butt in, but Nick, you're going to tell me what has been going on and you're going to do it right now." Tony stated firmly.

"Nothing has been going on Tony!" Nick maintained.

"You know what? Fine, if you're not going to tell me, I will find out myself. You know I always do." Tony tried the last time.

Nick let out a deep sigh and Tony felt like he had finally decided to relent. "Everything is fine, Tony, really. I found out that I officially got the UC and Ziva's a little upset that I didn't tell her sooner."

Oh. So they were having a lovers' tiff.

"I am not upset." He heard her hiss. "You should have just told me yourself, instead of waiting for your father to tell me. I knew you were considering it, but I definitely did not know it was a done deal already."

"I couldn't tell you, Ziva!" Nick sighed. "You know the rules."

That set Ziva off. "Oh you and your rules, Nick." She huffed angrily. "Screw the rules. I am your girlfriend. You should have told me that you were disappearing for 6 months to infiltrate a drug gang."

Well that was new. "I'm sorry what now?" Tony stuttered.

"Stay out of it, Tony." Nick narrowed his eyes. "You told me you were going to support me, so now it's too late to take back it back." He gritted through his teeth and turned to look at Ziva. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I had to promise that I wouldn't. I can't just ignore that. You, yourself, have told me not to question orders above my pay grade."

"Well maybe I should not have." She yelled and got up from the table. "What do I know?" Tony heard her mumbling on the way to the backdoor.

Tony opened his mouth to mention to Nick how stupid he was being, but before he got to it, Nick stood up, pointing a finger at him. "Don't start." He growled, leaving the room and grabbed his keys to leave the house.

Huh. They really can't go with 3 days without someone smashing the door loudly, he mused to himself.

Tony sat at the table for a while, deciding whom to go after. He eventually settled for Ziva, for he felt like she needed him the most. Plus, he would probably just start yelling at Nick and that wasn't a productive use of his time at the moment.

On his way out, he grabbed a blanket to give to Ziva because he figured she was too angry to think of the freezing cold outside.

Ziva was sitting at the beam, like he did the other night, dangling her feet against the pillars. She didn't acknowledge Tony approaching her, even though she must have sensed it what with her ninja skills.

He hopped on the beam, throwing his legs over and handed her the blanket.

Ziva whispered. "Thank you."

Tony didn't want to talk about what happened straight away and decided to ease into it with something lighter. "So, you didn't tell me, how did you learn to play basketball like that?"

"You did not ask." She gave him a weak smile.

"Oh." He realized. "Well, I'm asking now." He grinned.

Ziva snuggled up in the blanket and said, "It was my brother."

"You have a brother?" Tony's eyes widened.

"Yeah. Ari." She smiled, lightly.

"Is he still in Israel?" he wondered.

"In theory, yes." She said vaguely.

"In theory?" Tony was confused.

"Well, he is Mossad, so one never knows where they are exactly." Ziva said neutrally.

"Oh. Thank makes sense." He said stupidly, not knowing what to say exactly. "Is your brother as big of an idiot as mine?" he tried jokingly.

Ziva snorted and the corner of her mouth curved up a bit. "He has his moments, but yours tops him at the moment."

Tony glanced at her compassionately. "Look, Zi, I'm sorry about him. He should have told you sooner, but you know how much of a stickler for rules he is." He paused and added, "Which is not an excuse, but just an explanation."

Ziva let out a deep sigh. "I know. It is ironic, but I guess I deserve it."

Tony frowned, her words didn't make sense. "What do you mean?"

Ziva just shook her head and mumbled quietly. "Nothing."

"Ziva." Tony urged.

"Why do you care?" She huffed angrily.

For a cop, she could be so daft sometimes. "Because you're my friend, Ziva. Because I care about you. Because I want to know you. Need I say more?" he paused and asked, "Didn't Nick want to know you?"

Ziva whipped her head to look at him. "Of course he did, but, Tony, he is not like you. He is not the poking and prodding type. He just accepts what I give him, nothing more, nothing less. It is easy with him."

Tony mulled that statement over and decided that it was time for her to open up a bit. "Well sucks to be you then, Zi, because Nicky isn't here right now. I am. And unfortunately for you, I _am _the poking type. So, I'll ask again. What did you mean?"

Ziva scowled at him for a moment, before her expression softened. "I am not going to get rid of you, am I?"

Tony grinned and shook his head.

She exhaled deeply. "I just simply meant that almost all of my life I have followed orders, so it makes sense that I taste my own medicine now."

Tony frowned at her explanation. He felt like there was an underlying tone to it, but he couldn't figure it out. So, he decided to poke further.

"But Nicky not telling you about the UC was not the only reason you're not yourself today." He said it as a statement, not a question.

Ziva smiled lightly at him. "You are too observant for your own good, Tony."

He didn't say anything and waited for her to continue. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually she complied to his wish. "It is because of my sister, Tali."

Another sibling? "You also have a sister?" Tony inquired.

"Had," she smiled sadly. "A younger one. Today is the day she died."

"I'm so sorry, Ziva." he said quietly. He really felt for her. He didn't know what he would do if he lost Nicky. He was all Tony had. "Did your sister had something to do with what you did all day?"

"Yeah. She was an amazing singer and she used to hold these performances for us and my father filmed it. So, I went to my apartment and watched them. And then I went to the cemetery to visit the small memorial I had had built for her." She shrugged and continued. "I do it once a year. Just to, you know, talk to her."

No wonder she was so out of sort. "What happened to her?" Tony asked hesitantly. He thought that maybe it was too much of a painful topic to talk about, but discussing his mother had really helped him, so he hoped it would do the same to Ziva.

"She," Ziva coughed to clear her throat, "She was shot in front of me." she said, struggling to stay neutral.

Tony's eyes widened in horror. So that's how she could understand exactly what Tony went through. But at least, her mother hadn't been killed while he was watching.

He didn't know what to say and even if he did, Ziva had started talking before he could reply. "We were both at home and um, these 5 men just barged in. I tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. So they tied us up, called my father, told him that this is payback for everything he had done, pointed a gun at me, but then shot Tali." she told him, eyes glassed over.

"Did you catch the guys who did it?" Tony whispered.

"Yeah, I did." she said thoughtfully.

"_You_ did?" Tony asked in surprise.

"Yes. My father gave me orders to search every terrorist cell he could think of who could have done this, so I was travelling for about a year or so."

"Travelling? That's a light way to put it." he huffed, angry at a man whom he hadn't even met. "So basically your father sent his only living daughter on a revenge mission instead of owning up to his mistakes and doing it himself?"

Ziva frowned. "Tony, I wanted revenge as well. I was happy to go"

"Well, did you want to survive in the process?" Tony countered.

"Not at first," she said quietly, making Tony gasp. "I was in a red haze of anger, I was not really thinking clearly." she paused and continued, "But after a-a bad um encounter, I realized that, sacrificing myself to avenge her, would not have been what Tali wanted. She would have wanted us to honor and respect her death by living as fully as one could. She was-" Ziva paused thoughtfully for a second and added, "She was like Nick, you know. Full of life and hope." She smiled. "Different from myself who had already been hardened by Mossad."

"Is that why you left Israel?" Tony asked quietly, wanting so badly to take all her pain away.

"In a way, yes. But. I did not leave right after I got back. I would still go on missions and be a good little soldier for my father. It took me some time to figure out that Mossad's way of life was not what I deserved. My father constantly sent me on potential suicide missions and at one point, I became aware that he only cared about not wanting his enemies to win, damn the consequences." She shrugged. "So I left."

"What about your brother? Didn't he try to talk some sense into your father?"

"Ari was different from me and Tali. Tali wanted nothing to do with Mossad, but Ari? Ari loved it. Mossad is who he is. And me? Well, I just did what I was supposed to do. It was my duty." She sighed deeply.

Tony was just so overwhelmed by all this new information. He couldn't have ever imagined Ziva having such a hard life. He wanted to comfort her, but he was slightly hesitant about it, considering Ziva didn't seem like someone who would care for compassion.

However, before he could make the decision, there was one question on his mind.

"Have you told any of this to Nick?" he asked.

"No." she simply said.

"Why not?" he countered. Nick was his boyfriend, shouldn't he know about her life?

"For the same reason you have not told him about your mother. Besides, he would probably be wearing this look of pity on his face for all eternity and I just cannot stand it." She pursed her lips in a straight line. "Life is what it is. You get the cards you are dealt."

Tony frowned. He understood her point, better than most people would, but he still didn't like the idea she carried this around. "So you have been keeping this inside? Shouldn't you have told someone?"

She turned her head to look at him. "I told you."

So, he was the first. If it didn't sound so twisted, he would have felt honored that she trusted him with this. Even if he did sort of forced her into it.

Hence, he decided to risk getting punched in the ribs and moved closer to her, throwing an arm over her shoulder and pulling her closer to him. She turned rigid for a second, before relaxing and leaning her head on his shoulder. "You'll be alright." He whispered. "We will all be alright."

They sat there for a while, until he settled for trying to lighten up the mood a bit. "Besides, if you hadn't come to the States, you wouldn't have met your current puppy-dog of a boyfriend." He grinned.

"True." He saw her lips curl up a bit. "Or you." She added after a while.

He felt butterflies in his stomach as cheesy as it sounded. He was beyond ecstatic that Ziva was happy that she met him.

"I told you my charm was legendary." He smirked, not wanting to put her on the spot with her heartfelt statement.

She chuckled and smiled brightly. "Yes, I admit, you managed to win me over." She paused and added teasingly, "Took you long enough."

"Well, what can I say? The best things in life take time." He grinned.

"That they do." She said, smiling and lifted her head from his shoulder to look up on him. Tony didn't know what it was, but suddenly the moment was a lot heavier than it was 5 seconds ago.

He wondered how it was possible to get so lost in someone's eyes so often. It was like, everything Ziva was, seemed to have been written in her eyes. He could read everything she was feeling right now: sadness, grief, hope, dare he even say, affection.

And it was at that moment, Tony realized, he was attached to this woman beyond what was considered acceptable for his brother's girlfriend. He finally decided to admit that Ziva was everything he had been unconsciously looking for. He simply hadn't known that person existed. But she did. And in the form of his brother's love.

So, he jerked and pulled back from the close proximity to her. "We um-" he coughed. "We should get back inside. You must be freezing. Heck, I'm freezing. Damn these winters." He rambled in a shaky voice.

Ziva looked dumbstruck for a couple of seconds, before blinking and nodding. "Yeah, you are right. We really should pick better places to have long-winded conversations." She said teasingly and got up to walk inside.

Tony swallowed tightly. That potentially meant that she was intending to continue these little rendezvouz' that seemed to become more frequent. As much as he ached to know more about her, it probably wasn't the best idea. He would continue to feel more for her and that wasn't fair to him, Ziva or Nick.

Perhaps it was for the best that he would be going home in 2 days. Save him the longing he would have for Ziva if he had to see her every day.

* * *

**Okay lovelies, mystery solved. I reaally hope you liked it. I also hope it made sense. And go Tony. Finally realized something.  
**

**Also, I feel like I should point out a couple of things in general, as some valid concerns were raised, so I think I should clear it up a bit. Nick is a fully functioning individual. He has his own thoughts and feelings. So, whatever may or may not happen to him will not only be a ploy to get this bloody frustrating OTP of ours together. This story has taken on a life of its own, so I have about like 4 different ways to go about it and I'm trying to decide currently which way to take. But I want you guys to know that I will try to do my absolute best to do it in a satisfying and rewarding way. **

**You all have been absolutely wonderful and once again, all your lovely reviews make my day. Or make my whole month really and I just sincerely appreciate them with all that's been going on, so just thank you!**

**Okay, so, as I said, I hope you liked this chapter and how it's shaping out to be :)  
**

**As always, let me know what you think :)**

**P.S. I'm moving back to the UK again, so I will be a bit AWOL because of all the stuff I still have to do. And seriously, dealing with insurance is driving me insane. So, I don't know exactly when (it won't take me like months, so don't worry) I will be able to update cause I don't know when we will get Internet in the flat, but this story and the other one (I know I'm horrible at updating that one!) are still alive and kicking. I have no intention of abandoning them, just give me a bit of time to sort out my life and my motivation and I'll be back in no time :)**


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